Bug Phobia
by LordLenne
Summary: Lucas, Claus, and Ninten never expected Ness to be so afraid of bugs. NessXLucas and some ClausXNinten.


**Lenne**: I. AM SO CREEPED OUT.

Seriously, when you get to the ending, you may feel my pain. ;_;

E...enjoy?

* * *

Another bright, cloudy day.

Ness and Lucas decided to take a walk out of their home, just to feel the fresh warmth of the morning wind.

"So what do you wanna do for the English project?" asked Lucas.

"Oh uh...I dunno," Ness replied. "I was hoping you thought of something."

Lucas sighed. "...This is why you get bad grades, you don't do your work."

"Hey, I'll be getting something good this time 'cause I'm partnered up with you now, right?" He wrapped an arm around Lucas.

"I guess...but there are going to be times when I won't be around as your partner."

"Ah, I'll be fine. It's not like I have a C or anything."

"You have a D in Math and Science..."

"Wha—how'd you know? Report cards aren't out yet!"

"I look online. I have your login and password."

"Grades are online?"

"You didn't know that?"

"Nope."

"..."

"...What do you have in Math?"

"A-plus."

"...Science?"

"A-plus."

"STOP BEING SMARTER THAN ME!" Ness yelled. He pulled his own hair in frustration as Lucas laughed.

They continued walking on the sidewalk back on the path to their home. However...

"Ness, look!" Lucas pointed to the ground.

"What is i—" He didn't bother to finish the sentence. He froze after he saw a plethora of ants crawling around an ant hill in swift speed.

"Th-They're ants, so what?" Ness said.

"But look at them...they're so..._majestic_." The ants ignored Lucas' compliment and continued scattering like crazy.

Ness had no comment. He continued to stand one a few feet away from the pile of dirt as Lucas continued to sit by it, watching the ants do their work.

"They don't usually come out and swarm all over like this...I wonder what's going on?" Lucas mentioned. Ness continued to watch him gaze in amazement and curiosity, but he didn't want to stay around any longer.

"Come on Lucas, let's just leave the ants," Ness called.

"But I wanna find out why there's so many...oh!" Lucas pointed to the house lawn of an unknown person. In the middle of the field of grass was another swarm of ants; they were crawling all over _something. _Lucas got up and walked over. "Ohh," he sang.

Ness was curious too; he took caution in closing in, carefully not trying to step on an ant.

He reached Lucas' spot. "What is it—WAH!"

Under the pile of mobile ants was something dead.

The corpse of a larger-than-average black cricket. It laid on its side, legs broken, head almost no longer intact.

Ness lost his conciousness for one split second, regained it, and then jumped backwards. But in doing so, he fell back and crawled backwards, until he felt something with his hand. With a quick look, he found another dead cricket—headless and body ripped in half, revealing the blackened and torn guts.

"UWAAAH!" He brushed his hand on his pants and went to hug Lucas.

"Wh-What's wrong?!" Lucas asked.

"I-I TOUCHED A DEAD CRICKET!" Ness exclaimed. He shuddered as he remembered the thought, "Eh-he-he-hegh!"

"...Ness, are you afraid of bugs?" Lucas asked.

"Wh-What, no! Of course not!"

A yellow butterfly made its way around Lucas.

"Oh," Lucas sounded on notice. He laid his finger out and allowed the butterfly to land on it. He watched it roost on its finger, enjoying its tickle. Ness, however, glared at it as if it was an evil spirit. The blonde boy brought the butterfly closer to Ness' face, and he jumped backwards again, causing the butterfly to fly away.

The sudden response from Ness created high suspicion for Lucas, and he grinned. "You _are _afraid of bugs," he stated.

Ness tried to laugh it off, "Ha...ha! N-No I'm not! Wh-What makes you say that?"

"You're shaking." Ness legs were shivering in place.

"N-No, I'm just c-cold!"

"It's eighty four degrees out here..." Lucas stated.

"W-Well..." Ness didn't continue his excuse. Instead, he kept a close watch on the ground, making sure not even one ant was around him.

Lucas knew for sure. Then, he decided to play with him. "You know you're stepping on the other dead cricket—"

"WAAAAH!" Ness jumped back and hurried off, scraping his foot on the ground along the way, and then picked up his speed.

"Hehe," giggled Lucas.

**_A few hours later..._**

"...Hide and seek is harder than I thought," Ness said to himself.

Ness began the simple game out of boredom with Lucas, Claus, and Ninten. He finished counting to fifty, but it three minutes already passed and he still didn't find anyone.

He had a time limit too; if he didn't find all of them in seven more minutes, he had to cook dinner for everyone that night.

The only room he didn't look in yet was his and Lucas' bedroom. He went back upstairs and went towards the door, but he froze. On the floor, in the small opening of the entrance, a small creature laid still. He stared at it, identifying it as a grasshopper. He inched closer only to reach the door and slide it open all the way. Suddenly, the creepy figure began to move, making small hops at that. As if it was being dragged, the grasshopper made its way to the closet.

Ness gulped, and decided to conquer his fear quickly. He grabbed his blue slippers and put them on, then he closed in on the bug. He took careful steps, almost reaching the bug. When he was just a foot away, he became more reluctant. He wasn't sure whether to strike now; he thought the bug would ninja-jump and land on his face. He wanted to look for an opening, even though he couldn't see it was already there.

Ness shut his eyes and stepped on the grasshopper quickly. Feeling its body beyond the slipper, he removed the footwear and stepped back. He stood there, watching the slipper, trying to grasp what had just happened. He finally killed a bug. Oh goodness!

The closet doors sprang open. Between two shirts was the giant, grotesque green face of a grasshopper.

"KCCCHHHHHHH!"

"UWAAAAAAAH!" Ness dashed out of his room and into another bedroom, shutting the door and cowering in the corner.

In the other room, the mother bug removed its mask and laughed. His raven-colored hair was messy and his whole body sweated from the enclosed heat in the closet, but in the end it was all worth it.

"Lucas was right," Ninten said to himself, "Ness really is afraid of bugs! Gah-haha!"

He removed Ness' slipper and raised his finger upwards. The grasshopper was lifted up into the air, spinning with dead motion, held by invisible, thin yet durable string. It wasn't a real insect; it was just a small figurine.

"Good boy," Ninten said to the fake grasshopper as he poked it.

**_That night..._**

"You're mean," Ness said to Ninten.

"Oh come on, you gotta admit that was funny!" Ninten responded.

On Ness' right, Claus turned his head to the side, chuckling. When he saw Ness' eyes, he was given a death glare, and immediately stopped his giggling. Clearing his throat, he returned to his omelet.

"Just forget it," Ness said. He sliced a piece of his steak off and put it in his mouth. "I've already had to cook dinner for everyone, just give me a break."

"Aw, I'm sorry Ness," Lucas placed his hand on Ness' shoulder. "How about I give you a massage before bed~?"

"...Okay," Ness replied. He smiled, knowing what to expect later.

"Yeah, just calm down, we don't mean to scare you to death," Ninten said.

"...Riiight," Ness sang sarcastically.

"Oh, before I forget," Claus began. He pulled out a pack of spearmint gum from his pocket. "Anyone want their after-dinner gum?"

"Ooh, me!" Ninten exclaimed. He reached for a stick and pulled it out, laying it by his drink.

"I'll take one," Lucas mentioned. He reached for the gum and put it beside his plate.

"Sure, why not," Ness said.

Claus brought the pack in front of Ness and gave it to him. The raven-haired boy looked at the pack, acknowledged the spearmint flavor, and began to pull the last stick in the pack.

SNAP!

...

"AAAAH!" Ness threw the stick at Claus, followed by his plate with half a steak.

"Wh-What happened?" Lucas asked frantically.

"A C-COCKAROACH BIT ME! WAAAH!" screamed Ness.

Claus' pack of gum was thrown at his omelet, revealing the fake black bug wired to the stick of gum. When Ness noticed it, he looked back at his finger, noticing no damage to it, and began to calm down. He was about to unleash his fury, until he noticed the steak that hit Claus' cheek, and fell down to his white t-shirt.

"...Claus," Lucas said disappointingly.

"...I probably deserved that," Claus mentioned.

"You deserve this too!" Ness slapped the back of Claus' head.

"OW!" cried Claus.

"Hey, only I can do that!" Ninten retorted.

"Oh, sorry."

Ninten got out of his seat, walked over, and slapped the back of Claus' head.

"Ow! H-Hey!"

Ninten ran out of the kitchen, giggling. "Teehehehe~"

**_Later that night..._**

"This good?" asked Lucas.

"Ah~ that's the spot," Ness replied.

Lucas was sitting on Ness' backside, gently squeezing Ness' shoulderblades. He repeated the motion over and over, deleting the tense on his body.

"You're really good at massaging..." Ness murmured.

"Not as good as you, though," Lucas replied.

"Naw, I think you're better." He was sure of it too, after yelping when Lucas pressed his hands down in the middle of Ness' back, and moving downwards, and then back up.

"Why do you have entomophobia in the first place?" asked Lucas.

"Ento-wha-wha?" Ness replied.

"Fear of insects," stated Lucas.

"Oh...well...they're just so creepy. I just don't like them."

"But the insects here are harmless. Cockaroaches don't bite, and neither do grasshoppers. Ants don't bite unless they know we disturb them."

"Well, I still don't wanna be near one...ooh..." his tone changed after Lucas squeezed Ness' sides.

"Oof...mmm..." moaned Ness. "That's...enough." Lucas ceased his hand movements and rolled off. Ness flipped to his side and huffed loudly. "Thanks, Luke." He patted his friend's head.

"No problem," replied Lucas, followed by a cute giggle.

"Ready to turn in?" Ness asked.

Lucas said nothing and simply pulled the blanket over them, snuggling up to Ness' shoulder. "Good night," he whispered.

"Good ni—" Lucas thought Ness' voice was too soft to hear the rest, but when he felt Ness' goosebumps, he knew something was wrong.

"What is it?" asked the blonde boy.

Ness pointed to the ceiling. Within the dim room, a long figure crawled along the ceiling.

"I-I-I-It's...a-a-a..." Ness continued to shake and point at the unknown figure.

"A caterpillar?" Lucas stated.

Ness screamed. "WHY IS IT IN OUR ROOM?!" He rolled out of the bed and crashed onto the floor.

Ninten and Claus barged into the room, hearing the loud noise Ness created.

"What happened?!" exclaimed Claus.

"EVIL CATERPILLAR!" Ness pointed.

Claus jumped onto the bed and propelled himself upwards. With a katana in hand, he chopped the bug in two, and it onto the bed.

"There," Claus said. He hopped onto the floor.

"YES! OH THANK YOU CLAUS!" Ness crawled over to hug his legs.

Lucas hopped off the bed as well, walked up to Claus, and punched him.

"HOW COULD YOU KILL THAT POOR, INNOCENT CREATURE?!" cried Lucas. He went over to pick up the caterpillar's split body.

Ness protested, "IT WASN'T INNOCENT, IT WAS EVILLLL."

"NO IT WASN'T!" argued Lucas.

"IT NINJA'D ITSELF ONTO THE CEILING, YES IT WAS!" retorted Ness.

"THAT DOESN'T MEAN IT'S EVIL!" Lucas yelled.

"NINJA-CATAPILLARS ARE EVIL!" Claus exclaimed.

"AGH!" Lucas gave up.

"I'M WEARING PANTIES!" shouted Ninten.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...You are?" Claus questioned.

"Yep."

Ninten was suddenly picked up by Claus and was then carried away out of the room. The last thing they saw on Claus' face were beaming eyes.

Lucas slipped the caterpillar's two halves out the window, and climbed into bed. Ness slowly crawled into bed as well, pretending the past minute didn't happen.

**_The next morning..._**

Ness entered the shower and rained himself with water. He rinsed his whole body and hair with hot water, feeling at peace within the steam-filled bathroom.

When he opened his eyes after washing his hair, there was a peculiar figure hanging right in front of him.

"UWAAAAAAAAH!" Ness jumped out of the shower and out of the bathroom, tackling Claus.

"Oof!"

"S-S-SP-SP-SPIDER!" Ness yelled.

Lucas and Ninten heard Ness' high-pitched scream and rushed into the hall.

"Ness, what happ—" Lucas froze. Ness was still naked, on top of Claus at that.

Ninten rushed over and pushed Ness off. Then, he shook Claus' shirt collar. "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!"

"Wha—?!" Claus' head was slammed against the floor as he was being shakened.

Lucas hurried and embraced Ness, despite his wet body. "What happened?"

"Th-there was a spider in the shower!" Ness told.

"...B-but-t a-ah spi-dah i-i-isn't a-ah b-uh-uh-geh!" Claus mentioned as he was still being tortured by Ninten.

Ness hugged Lucas tighter. "So?! Spiders are also scary!"

"...I guess you also have arachnophobia," Lucas stated.

"Arac-wha-wha-wha?" Ness repeated.

"Fear of spiders," told Lucas.

"...Yeah."

"...Ness, how long are you planning to stay naked?"

"...Oh..."

Moments later, after Ness covered himself in a towel, they discovered that the spider was washed away into the shower drain.

"REST IN PEACE, SOLDIER!" Ninten saluted.

Ness slapped the back of his head, "YOU DID IT DIDN'T YOU?!"

Ninten squealed. "Oww—n-no, I was kidding!"

**_Later in the evening..._**

Lucas went back up to his room to check on Ness.

"Ness? You okay?" Lucas opened the door to find Ness on the bed. However, he was shielded with some sort of rubber basket with air holes.

"Yeah, I'm fine!" Ness replied.

"..." Lucas didn't need to comment how ridiculous he was right now. "Ness, you can't stay in there forever."

"Well, I don't want to get close to another bug, ever!"

Lucas walked over and sat down on the open side of the bed. "We're never in any danger you know; everything in this house is harmless."

"Still not coming out of here."

"Is it because Claus trapped a real cockaroach in a jar and shook it in front of your face earlier today?"

"...Don't remind me."

"I punched him hard, you know."

"Yeah, thanks for that."

Lucas removed the basket and hugged Ness. "It'll be okay, come on. Let's go eat dinner."

"...Okay." Ness slowly got off the bed with Lucas and they held hands together as they walked to the kitchen. When they reached the bottom of the stairs...

"HOLY MOTHER OF OREOS!" shouted Ninten.

"GET MY KATANA!" reacted Claus.

With distress heard, Ness and Lucas hurried into the kitchen to discover the issue. Ninten zoomed past them up the stairs, without a chance to even mention anything. Ignoring him. the two boys made it to Claus, who carefully inched back while keeping his eyes on the stove.

"What happened?" questioned Lucas.

"Look!" pointed Claus.

A brown, long and oozing figure with multiple legs flustered back and forth in a heated pan full of oil. As the frying oil shrieked, the creature suffered from the immense heat and continued to waver around in the pan.

"WH-WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" yelled Ness.

"It's a centipede," identified Lucas.

"EWWW!" Ness reacted. He hid himself behind Lucas.

"How did it get in there?" asked Lucas.

"It fell from the vent!" Claus replied, referring to the range ventilation above the stove.

Suddenly, another long-lengthed creature dropped from the vent, landing on the counter next to the stove. It began crawling around, most notably dropping from the counter and onto the floor, then zig-zagging towards the three boys.

"EW, EW, EW! GET AWAY, GET AWAY, GET AWAY!" yelled Ness. He continued to hold Lucas tightly.

The tan-colored centipede approached closer, inch by inch. Its multiple legs continued to bite the kitchen ground, sensing Ness' fear, and paused, rising and roaring in its place before continuing its path.

"AAAH! NONONONONONO—" Still using Lucas as a shield, Ness picked him up and backed away.

"Back!" Ninten announced. He threw the acquired weapon at Claus. Claus quickly ran to the centipede and stabbed its body.

"Nooo!" Lucas whined. He witnessed another innocent creature's death.

"YES!" Ness exclaimed.

"...It's not dead yet!" Ninten bellowed. Everyone took another look at the centipede. Both halves of its body was still moving.

"HOLY FU—AAAAAH!" Ness let go of Lucas and ran past everyone, rushing upstairs.

Claus stabbed the centipede again, and again, and again until the its nerves ceased. The creature made its last leg stretch before it weakly roared again, entering its state of death.

"Ness!" Lucas ran past Claus and Ninten to follow him. He went upstairs and found that their bedroom door was left wide open. He checked inside, finding Ness in the corner of the room, hugging his knees.

"Nnnnnn...!" Ness bawled in his spot, unable to withstand another sight of an insect. Lucas rushed over and embraced him, not letting go until he had calmed down.

**_The next day..._**

To help Ness calm down completely, Claus called for an exterminator to perform a complete house inspection and termination of all insects within the interior and exterior part of the home. And lastly, Lucas decided to help Ness overcome his fears, starting by letting the most gentlest insects crawl on a gloved hand. The process would continue until Ness learned to become used to the harmless insects of their home, even though the thoughts of being near a bug still creeped his mind like hell.

* * *

**Lenne**: Yes. Centipedes move _even after they are cut in half._

And a centipede...being fried to death in oil...why did I do that. EUGHH. MY MIND.

DO NOT EVER LOOK UP PICTURES OF CENTIPEDES, EVER. I learned that the hard way.


End file.
